The Scottish Government has raised concerns over a covid passport plan the UK Government is considering for football matches.
A spokesperson for the Government said such a system had “potential” for international travel, but questioned its use for accessing everyday events.
South of the border, the Government wants to enable the safe return of mass gatherings and indoor events as lockdown restrictions ease in England.
The Carabao Cup final, the second FA Cup semi-final and the FA Cup final will serve as Wembley pilot events for the government’s ‘Covid status certification’ scheme.
UK Government officials will take into account three factors – whether an individual has received the vaccine, has recently tested negative for the virus, or has “natural immunity” having tested positive in the previous six months.
The NHS is said to be currently working on ways of providing people with the means to demonstrate their Covid status through “digital and non-digital routes”.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said: “We have made huge strides over the past few months with our vaccine programme and everyone in the country has made huge sacrifices to get us to this stage in our recovery from Covid-19.
“We are doing everything we can to enable the reopening of our country so people can return to the events, travel and other things they love as safely as possible, and these reviews will play an important role in allowing this to happen.”
The World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield – running from April 17 to May 3 – is the first sporting event to be included in the trial and will have 1,000 spectators per day.
However, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As we have said previously, we recognise the potential of vaccine certification for international travel as part of global arrangements, however there are ethical and equity questions to be answered as part of considering using vaccine certification for access to places people visit as part of their everyday lives.
“While we continue to roll out the vaccine programme, we should be controlling our borders not opening them up, and it is too early for us to encourage anyone to consider booking overseas travel. With a third wave in Europe and other parts of the world like Chile seeing spikes in the virus, we must all be careful not to put the progress we have made at risk.”
